China Announcement on Organ Harvesting a Ploy: Murdered Prisoners of Conscience are Main Source of Organs

NEW YORK – The Chinese government’s announcement that they would end the practice of harvesting organs from executed prisoners is a propaganda ploy to pacify growing international criticism, and it ignores the evidence that shows a majority of harvested organs in China are taken from murdered prisoners of conscience, principally Falun Gong practitioners.

For more than a decade, the international community has condemned China’s practice of harvesting organs from executed prisoners. In 2006, reports of killing Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience for their organs first surfaced. As more evidence was uncovered, governments around the world put more pressure on China.

On November 6, 2014, the Canadian Parliament’s International Subcommittee on Human Rights passed a resolution condemning forced organ harvesting in China (report). A similar bill, H.Res.281, is currently pending in the U.S. Congress having reached 245 co-sponsors, drawing broad support from both Democrats and Republicans. In December 2013, the European Parliament adopted a resolution to end forced organ harvesting in China (report), and on March 19, 2014, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) endorsed the EU Resolution.

The new regulation announced Thursday by China’s state-run media is the latest in a string of similar announcements dating back to 2007, none of which have changed the grisly practice of extracting organs from executed prisoners.

The Big Story: What Wasn’t Said

The announcement does not address the allegation that tens of thousands of prisoners of conscience have been killed for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs to be used to fuel a booming organ transplantation industry in China.

Reports of Chinese officials overseeing the systematic killing of people for their organs first emerged in March, 2006 when a woman divulged that as many as 4,000 Falun Gong practitioners had been killed for their organs at the hospital in which she had worked. (news) One week later, a Chinese military doctor not only corroborated the woman’s account, but claimed such atrocities were taking place in 36 different concentration camps throughout the country. (news)

In July 2006, former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific David Kilgour and renowned human rights lawyer David Matas, published their own 140-page report. It drew “the regrettable conclusion that the allegations are true” (news). Two books were subsequently published on the topic: Bloody Harvest: Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China in 2009, andState Organs: Transplant Abuse in China in 2012. They conclude that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed for their organs.

Independent researcher and expert on organ harvesting in China, Ethan Gutmann published a third book on the topic in 2014 titled The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to It’s Dissident Problem in 2014. According to Mr. Gutmann, an estimated 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been killed to harvest their organs.

The Falun Dafa Information Center calls for independent investigators to be allowed access to China so a thorough investigation can be conducted, and those responsible for this crime against humanity be brought to justice. The Center also urges Western media to cover the complete story, and not be led by the Chinese regime into simply amplifying what is sure to be an empty promise.